Categories

Directories

Meta

I’m 40?!? WTF!!!

Where the hell has the time gone?? 40? Already? Damn… But I was kinda enjoying my 30s!

Now just what the hell is 40 supposed to look like, cause I have no freakin’ clue and I sure as hell don’t FEEL 40. Hahaha

I suppose when you reach any kind of milestone birthday, it means different things to different people.. And I’m still trying to figure out what this one means to me.

Like most people, I used to imagine what life would be like at 40 when I was younger (hell, I still do sometimes lol). Would it be free and fabulous with some hottie on my arm? Would it be all about my career and working hard to move up that corporate ladder? Would it be settling down with the love of my life and building something together?

Ok, maybe I’m a bit of a dreamer.. cause none of that have happened to me by 40, or really at any other point in my life. Instead I’m broke, painfully single (and seemingly only meeting partnered men or mind-fuckers), about to start a new job at a lower level/salary than I’ve had in many years, and have to find a new place to live in the next month or so.

And since I can’t afford much on my new salary, that new place will most likely be renting with others in a not-as-great-as-I’d-like-it-to-be area just so I can afford to live on this much lower salary.

Doesn’t my life at 40 seem sooooo fabulous and glamorous? LOL Yes? Great, then you can have it and I’ll take someone else’s life.

Oh if only it was that easy sometimes. 🙂

Admittedly after this past horrible year, things are starting to move upwards again with that aforementioned new job, and I’m looking at it as an opportunity to move forward as well. I’m doing my best to not be negative about the ‘what ifs’ or the ‘I should have gotten the manager role’ type of things.

So.. what did I do to celebrate my big day? I went to someone else’s birthday party! Hahahaha

Normally, my friend ‘P’ from Scotland would come down to celebrate our birthday’s together (his 40th was 2 days before mine), but because I haven’t been working it just didn’t make sense as I couldn’t have afforded to go out. It’s too bad because this was the first time in 4 years we haven’t done something together to celebrate (he’s coming down just after the August Bank Holiday for a weekend instead..).

My birthday also coincided with London’s Gay Pride celebrations (exact same day), but the last thing I wanted to do was bop around Soho with all the drunk revelers, generally unable to get anyone to do something together since they’d be too busy celebrating Pride.

So instead, my Italian mate ‘M’ and his partner invited me to their place in Essex (so small a town you’re hard pressed to get a mobile signal lol), as their neighbor was hosting a party in their huge garden for her 60th. So a party full of straight, middle-aged Essex folk, with free food and booze all night.

Actually didn’t sound like a bad idea. And it definitely would make it a memorable and different way to celebrate the day.

Of course I didn’t know this when I agreed to go, my mate and I were drafted to help serve drinks in the little bar they’d rigged up in the garage.. and I ended up spending a good part of the party there. It wasn’t ideal, but it did give an opportunity to chat to a lot of different people and have some laughs.

I especially laughed at the people who brought a cheapish bottle of wine, and then proceeded to ask for something a lot more high-end (‘Do you have an oaky Chardonnay?’ asked one woman who brought a cheap bottle of Pinot LOL), as if it was an actual stocked bar.

The cake never saw it coming…

We had just whatever wine and Proseco (sparkling wine) the hostess had bought, along with whatever everyone else brought in, plus a mini-keg from a local brewery.. and that was it unless they brought it themselves.

It wasn’t like they were down at the corner pub or anything. 😉

I obviously didn’t spend the entire night in the garage/bar area. I got out and mingled here and there.. and was even brought out my own birthday cake by my friends. In fact, I think ‘M’ brought the cake out and had ‘Happy Birthday’ sung to me 3 or 4 times over the course of the night. Hahaha

In the end, it was a fun party and everyone left by 1am or so. And only two ladies fell into the garden later in the night.. they couldn’t handle the grass in those high heels of theirs. Hahaha

The next day I was surprisingly not hung over despite always having something to drink throughout the night. Once the place was straightened up and back to normal, ‘M’ and I stripped down (no, not naked LOL) to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and sunbathed in the garden.

It made for a nice relaxing way to finish off the weekend, even if we did forget the sun cream and I ended up with a sunburn that lasted a week. Hahaha

So.. where will 40 take me? Hell if I know.. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. 😀

Hahaha we might have if their tenant didn’t have his two young kids staying with him that weekend.. and the daughter was all over the garden and trying to play ‘horsey’ while we sunbathed. Wouldn’t have been appropriate. lol

A very belated happy birthday, you know what they say. Naughty forties. Age is just a number and I really hope that all goes well with you on Monday. Looking for the first post of the first day. Take care Ivan